Daughter of elderly couple who vanished 15 years ago 'arrested over their murder'

Sources say that Susan Edwards, 55, and her husband Christopher, 57, are held
on suspicion of murdering her parents, William and Patricia Wycherley, whose
bodies are believed to have been buried in their suburban back garden

An aerial view of police forensics at work after two sets of human remains were found buried in a suburban back garden in MansfieldPhoto: CATERS

The daughter of an elderly couple whose bodies were apparently found buried in their back garden has been arrested on suspicion of their murder, sources said.

Police discovered remains believed to be those of William and Patricia Wycherley under the lawn of their quiet suburban semi-detached house in October.

The reclusive pensioners moved into the property in Forest Town, near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in 1987 but vanished 11 years later.

Officers investigating the couple’s disappearance arrested a 55-year-old woman and a 57-year-old man at St Pancras International train station in London on Wednesday night and took them into custody for questioning.

Nottinghamshire Police refused to confirm the identities of the pair under arrest, but it is understood that they are Mr and Mrs Wycherley's daughter, Susan Edwards, and her husband Christopher.

A spokesman for the force said: "A man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a Mansfield couple in 1998."

He added: “While formal identification has yet to be confirmed, police believe the remains are that of elderly couple William and Patricia Wycherley, who lived at the house in the 1990s and, according to neighbours, disappeared in 1998.”

Police dug up the two bodies at the house on October 9 after receiving a tip-off about an “incident” alleged to have happened at the property in the late 1990s.

One neighbour said that Mr and Mrs Wycherley had “seemed to disappear” amid rumours they had emigrated

Land Registry records show that the house was sold in August 2005 for £69,000. Police have confirmed that the current owner and tenant are not part of their investigation.

Mr Wycherley, who served with the merchant navy during the Second World War, would have turned 100 last year, while his wife would have been 79.

An anthropologist has established one of the bodies was a man older than 60, and the other was a woman over the age of 40. Police said the female remains shared a distinctive feature with Mrs Wycherley. Causes of death are yet to be established.

Detective Chief Inspector Rob Griffin, who is leading the investigation, earlier appealed for appealed for anyone who knew the couple, or lived in the Blenheim Close area of Forest Town between 1990 and 2005, when the two-bedroom house was sold on, to come forward if they had any relevant information.

He said: "Bones were discovered in a grave in the garden. People we have spoken to to date have described the Wycherleys as reclusive. They kept themselves to themselves and it didn't appear they had many regular friends or associates.

"We want to put together their lifestyles, their movements, and hopefully help us explain how they have come to be where we recovered them from.

"It appears they vanished. We conduct what are known as 'proof of life' inquiries and we can't find any evidence of them being alive. And at the same time we can't find any evidence of them having died. Neither William nor Patricia have ever been reported missing."